A Uniquely Haitian Experience...

The following was taken from a letter to our president from Cathy Donahoe, who was visiting HAS Haiti as a volunteer with our rehabilitation program. This was one of Cathy's more unique experiences, which she wanted to share with our blog readers:

While I obviously had many experiences during my two weeks at HAS, a uniquely pleasurable one came on the weekend. Plans to hike to two trees overlook with some other visitors didn’t go as planned and it became a solo hike for the sunrise. As I neared the overlook, two Haitian women were going to the same place and we started chatting in my weak Kreyol. On arriving, they split up and took their postures of prayer. The sun was just behind the mountains with cloud cover to delay the sunrise and make it more spectacular at the same time. I took my initial set of pictures then assumed my position for devotions. After a while, one of the ladies started singing and the chorus sounded easy enough that perhaps I could learn it. She began a moving meditation and singing, coming near where I was sitting. It took some effort to communicate that I wanted to learn her song, but we achieved the understanding and the lesson began. Singing together like this was a bonding time for us. We continued to try to communicate as others arrived. When I learned they planned on several hours there, I said my farewells and returned to the hospital grounds, singing my new song as I went, greeting the others heading up the trail to join the event. A couple of days later I met her as I walked along the canal road with others. We shared a quick hug and greeting before continuing on, but she is one whose picture I don’t require to remember her, though I have one.


Thank you and bless you for your efforts on behalf of the people in the Artibonite Valley and your encouragement and support for rehab services!

Cathy Donahoe

SAMS Missionary

Apartado 587

San Pedro de Macoris

Dominican Republic

Here are some of Cathy's pictures from her time working with rehabilitation patients and caregivers.

Video Interviews in Deschapelles, Haiti

This video was filmed and edited by Edward Rawson, son of Dr. Ian Rawson, current board president of HAS Haiti. For more of Edward's video interviews, visit his website at www.edwardrawson.com

"An ill wind..."

The following is a post from Denise English, RTTP program director, who has returned to the US from Haiti. Here are her brief reflections.

February 9, 2010

It’s been four weeks today since everything changed. Three weeks since I’ve written an entry. Two weeks since I’ve been back home in Pittsburgh.

Much to think about since returning. Words not coming easily.

Everything indeed has changed. So many things for the worse.

Some, as a result, for the better.

Infrastructure is being created. Groups are working in concert rather than isolation. Rehabilitation is now being pushed front and center.

"It is an ill wind that blows no good." -- English writer John Heywood (c. 1497 – 1580).

Reflections from David Charles Rehabilitation Services Manager

The following is a translation from French of a blog entry written by David Charles, HAS's rehabilitation services manager. He recounts, from a physical therapists standpoint, how the Rehabilitation service at HAS grew and learned to accommodate the in-pouring of trauma victims they encountered in the wake of the January earthquake.


On Tuesday, January 12th 2010, several hours after the quake hit, the rooms and hallways of HAS Haiti were already brimming with victims and the parents of victims of the major earthquake that hit Haiti and caused unprecedented damage in Port au Prince and its environs.

In the meantime, I wasn't at all conscious of the situation in Deschapelles, as I was at the Plassac Dispensary (one of HAS satellite despensaries), accompanying an rehab technician from RTTP's first graduating class in his adjustment to the first week of work. We were, to say the least, incredibly impatient to return to Deschapelles, not yet knowing the extent of the damage there.

The following day, we returned to HAS and the reality of the situation immediately presented itself. We prepared ourselves to receive incoming patients in the hospital courtyard as there was no longer any space in the interior of the hospital to house quake victims. All hospital personnel were in a state of alarm, and this was also the case for the rehabilitation service which was assailed by requests to immobilize fractures as the physicians made their evaluations.

Only a couple days thereafter, we saw a need to expand the rehabilitation work we were doing at the hospital. Our technicians, those responsible for rehab service, along with the program's professorship--all were implicated in transferring patients from the floor onto beds, to tech patients how to use their crutches after their casts were set, to mobilize patients in beds during their time in the hospital, and to both convince and teach the family how to continue these therapies at home. This crisis time allowed us to better understand how to handle mass car accidents; we were receiving a good deal of patients with all sorts of injuries, broken bones, that were necessary to immobilize immidiately as the victims waited for surgical intervention. Our greatest challenge was to learn how to best manage cases of spinal trauma by acute care, or an immobilization of the spinal column, and all with what little means we had at the time. Among the eight medullary [neural tube] trauma cases that were diagnosed, two passed away during their first five days at the hospital. Of the six others, one died after one week of treatment. The rehabilitative care in these extreme cases consisted primarily in the prevention of pressure sores and contractures, all while we kept the spinal column immobile, all this in addition to educating families how to continue these therapies. Only one patient developed pressure ulcers in the sacro-lumbar region, which, once identified were quickly treated.

Amputees were also among those to whom we gave rehabilitative support, even as soon as a few hours after the amputations were performed.

Right now, we are still in a crisis state, and our major preoccupation is of course the future of the patients who need a good deal of therapy after their trauma. The rehab service staff, composed of three technicians and one physical therapist, is now bolstered by a volunteer who was present at the hospital last year, and who wanted once again to lend a hand to the service.

In the time between my arrival at HAS Haiti in August 2009 to today, I have seen the rehabilitation service here evolve into a program that is much better structured, and which is now remarkably better able to respond effectively to major problems as they arise. The rehabilitation service of HAS is truly rare in that it is one of the few rehabilitation centers that provide therapy from the first day of hospitalization until the day of discharge, and in that it continues to accompany the patient beyond their release with a rehabilitation program that best suits their individual needs.

The rehabilitation service at HAS Haiti will continue to work to improve the living conditions of persons with disabilities by helping them to reintegrate into society. We thank, from the bottom of our hearts, all those who help us to exist, and those who work with us.

David CHARLES

Rehabilitation Services Manager

Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti

Deschapelles, Haiti

January 19, 2010 Evening

My father turned 87 years old today.

Many this last week have commented that “anpil moun ap soufri anpil anpil. Se la viv an." Many people are suffering very very much. This is life.

This is usually followed by “Bon dje pral ede nou.” God will help us.

The recognition of suffering as part of life is not said with condemnation – or resignation. It is an acknowledgment of the situation in which they now find themselves.

Faith here is powerful. I remain deeply moved each time I hear expressions of faith in the midst of this.

The hospital halls and outside courtyard areas remain occupied.

More steam in. We continue to get the very severe cases.

Today there was a reassessment and discharge of those who were ready. Or in some cases not ready, but nothing more could be done.

This is a difficult reality. “Bon dje pral ede yo.” God will help them.

Our staff has worked, and continues to work, non-stop to provide care and they are, along with many supplies, stretched to the limit.

On surgical rounds this morning we methodically moved from patient to patient. Our docs making decisions about how to handle each situation.

They were greeted with relief and questions.

During what is mostly a very serious process we found laughter. A gift from a very special patient. In the midst of an outdoor area sat a woman. One of those incredibly beautiful elders whose faces defy description. She is blind. On her bed sat her young grandson.

I’m not 100% certain of what she was saying, but it was heartfelt and insistent and not to be ignored. She was giving us all what I believe was a piece of her mind. And her assessment of the situation.

With every attempt to move on came another commentary. Our quiet surgeons soon found themselves stopping for affectionate banter.

The entire ward was drawn in.

A new team of surgeons arrived this morning. They went immediately to the operating room. Rumor has it that they are very energetic and determined.

With this increased capacity to provide surgical intervention comes the increased need for post-operative nursing.

If I could wish for something else to arrive today it would be more nurses and pain medications.

And Dad, I’m wishing you a happy birthday.

MASH - Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The following reflections were written this morning by Denise English, physical therapist, and director of our Rehabilitation Technician Training Program, who has been working at HAS since before the earthquake.

Today I wake to the sound of helicopters overhead.

Our doctors and nurses who were stranded in PAP returned on Sunday.

A team of surgeons arrived. The US Coast Guard brought them in from Ft Lauderdale.

Much needed back-up for our staff. Also a sign to those waiting that indeed the rumors were true. Help was coming.

Dr. Maibach [HAS boardmember and former medical director of the hospital] was in Port Au Prince when the quake happened. He spoke at morning medical meeting yesterday. He expressed his deeply felt sense of having returned home – home here to HAS.

The team from Ft. Lauderdale was to work through last evening and into the early morning – we heard the 3:00 am beep of the vehicle taking them to Cap Haitien. They will be exchanged for an arriving team.

It took them 48 hours to get here. Long circuitous route. They are hoping for a more direct trip home.

Aircraft continue to pass above us. Dawn is breaking. Soon they’ll be visible.

I’m remembering Radar O’Reilly.

Update from HAS, Monday 1/18/10

The following is an update from the managing director of HAS, Ian Rawson.

The flow of urgent cases from Port au Prince continues as before except that they are more serious cases. It has been possible to treat and release many of the patients, so slowly the ones who remain are taken off the floor and put on cots, and then to beds.

A surgical team from Miami arrived yesterday evening on a military flight, started to work immediately, and had done a dozen cases by midnight. There is still a long row of surgical candidates in the hallway by the operating suite. The team has provided a welcome relief to the Haitian surgeons, and they are prepared to continue their work through today. They had been stalled in Miami for two days due to the confusion surrounding flights into the Port Au Prince airport.

We are learning every day about disaster medicine; we are a microcosm of what is happening throughout the country, especially in Port au Prince. The clinical demand is astounding; thousands of injured people are seeking care in Port au Prince, and for many it is a race against infection and systemic damages.

We had, and still have, a desperate need for clinical personnel; the surgical team which arrived yesterday has helped a great deal. Our OR nurses have worked as hard as the physicians, and are also in need of a break. More surgeons represent more demand for their services. The Surgery post-operative ward has spilled out into other spaces, but with only a few additional nurses, who are stretched thin.

I hope this comes across not as complaints, but as a description of what life is like on the ground here at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, where the vast majority of our services have been provided by an exclusively local Haitian staff, and are only now getting support from international specialists.

Many of our patients have been in our hallways now for days, patiently waiting for help. We have become good friends and I appreciate their forbearance when I explain why they have not yet had their much-needed surgeries. Their pain is becoming more intense, and they must be frustrated, but they always respond with a smile and an assurance that they are doing all right, when it is obvious that they are not.

Several patients have brought radios. One of the early morning broadcasts play hymns. The patients turn up the volume a bit, and many people quietly join the songs, from both wards, the halls, the pediatric clinic, which is filled with beds, and the old horse parking lot, which is also filled. Many Haitians have lovely singing voices and the sound is angelic. For many, it is an inspiration that their faith will help them to endure the pain.

Your collective concern and support has helped to sustain us all in the face of an incomprehensible demand. I, and all of us here ion Deschapelles, send our sincere thanks.

Ian Rawson